CHAPTER 4

DIODE CIRCUITS
Outline
Objectives
HALF-WAVE RECTIFIER
■ Positive half cycle = diode forward biased
■ Negative half cycle = diode reversed biased
IDEAL WAVEFORMS

■ Input voltage waveform

■ Sine wave with instantaneous value Vin and a peak
value of Vpin
A pure sinusoid = an average value of 0 over one cycle.
IDEAL WAVEFORMS

■ Positive half cycle = diode is conducting

- Positive half cycle waves are present
■ Negative half cycle = diode is non-conducting
- Negative half cycle waves are CLIPPED.
IDEAL WAVEFORMS
DC Value of Half-Wave Signal

■ DC or average value is 31.8% of the peak value.

Output Frequency

Second Approximation
Example 1
Example 1
The Transformer

Dotted ends have the same instantaneous phase. In other words, when a positive
half-cycle appears across the primary, a positive half-cycle appears across the
secondary. If the secondary dot were on the ground end, the secondary voltage
would be 180° out of phase with the primary voltage.
The Transformer

On the positive half-cycle of primary voltage, the secondary winding has

a positive half sine wave across it and the diode is forward biased. On the negative
half-cycle of primary voltage, the secondary winding has a negative half-cycle and
the diode is reverse biased. Assuming an ideal diode, we will get a half-wave load
voltage.
Turns Ratio

AC voltages are specified as rms values

Step-up transformer will produce a secondary voltage that is larger than the
primary.

Step-down transformer will produce a secondary voltage that is smaller than

the primary.
Example 2:
What are the peak load voltage and dc load voltage in
the circuit shown?
Solution:
The transformer has a turns ratio of 5:1. This means that the rms secondary
voltage is one-fifth of the primary voltage:

The peak secondary voltage is

With an ideal diode, the peak load voltage is

Solution:
The DC load voltage is

With the second approximation, the peak load voltage is

and the dc load voltage is: